Ben Casseday

“ Business is pursued quietly and without ostentation; no efforts are made by any to convince others of their successes; no factitious means are employed to display the results of labor, no hurry or restlessness or confusion attends even the largest and most prosperous houses. Trade is pursued as a means of gain, but is not allowed to blind its votaries to every other pursuit of life: business closes with the close of the day, and is forgotten in other things, until it is revived on the morrow. ”

“ The streets south of Jefferson are all entirely occupied with dwelling houses. No business is done on any of them except an occasional family grocery or drug store. The fashionable shops are fitted up in a style of unexampled magnificence and contain the most beautiful products of human ingenuity. No city in the Union is better supplied with or finds more ready sale for the finest class of articles of every description than Louisville. ”

“ Louis will ultimately bring to our doors the products of the Pacific Coast and the treasures of the modern El Dorado. Add to all these advantages the unavoidable effects of these railroads, in bringing to light all the possible wealth of the countries through which they pass, and then say if anything but the most criminal neglect of the advantages which Nature has given her, can prevent Louisville from arriving at the most prominent rank among Western cities. Does the capitalist desire an investment? ”

“ Does the emigrant desire a home? Where can he better find it than near a city thus situated, one where the whole of his little fortune is not required to buy him a shelter from the winds and the rain, one that is yet unfilled with eager [Pg 255] competitors in the struggle for wealth, one where the products of his industry are needed and will be eagerly taken from his hands at their fair value, one where he can have not only a field for his own struggle with the world, but a place and a circle of friends possessing all those attributes which make a home happy? ”

“ Prompt and efficient in their business relations, tasteful and artistic in the execution of the work entrusted to them, they are enabled to command a large amount of patronage, not only in Louisville, but all over the West and South. The new map of Kentucky lately issued from their press, is of itself a sufficient guarantee for the character of the work executed at this establishment. This map is the best ever published, and its authenticity is in no whit inferior to its mere artistic excellence. It is steadily growing into public favor, and is deservedly appreciated wherever it is known. ”

“ While pursued, it is pursued with all the avidity that is consistent with the dignity of manhood; but it is never allowed to obtrude where it does not belong, nor is it permitted to make any forget that there are other duties than those of the merchant, and other pleasures than that of adding dollar to dollar. Yet it is believed that there is no city in the Union where the aggregate amount of sales in any one department of business, divided by the number of houses engaged in that business, will show so large a result. ”

“ Another glaring defect of a certain part of society is found in a desire for notoriety, even if purchased at the expense of good taste. This feeling is one hardly deserving the name of ambition, for ambition has ever a laudable object in view, while this purposes to itself no more than merely having one’s name coupled with some eccentric freak, or being pitied as the victim of outre tastes in dress or manner. ”

“ It discourages gaming, drunkenness and sensuality; its prevailing tone is virtuous and moral; and, while people are hedged in by few conventionalities, yet a character for respectability is imperatively demanded from all who knock at its portals for admission. No society could be more agreeable to the stranger than that of Louisville. Its unbounded hospitality, and generous, confiding frankness are characteristics which are to him a screen against any minor defects.
It is not to be argued from anything which has been previously said that this city can boast of no prominent intellectual men. ”

“ This useful establishment is one of those minor factories which are indispensible to a great city. Necessary of small extent as compared with many other branches of manufacture, it is yet an important and useful concern. Mr. Hunter is the foreman of his own factory, and is a thorough and accomplished workman. It is at his shop that those elegant cuttings on tinted and white glass, which adorn the windows of our southern steamboats, and add so much to their magnificence, are done. In this department of his business he is without a rival in the city and, it is believed, in the West. ”

“ The success of their publishing house is by the practical talent and fine taste of the proprietors, already placed beyond a contingency of failure, and only needs the necessary lapse of time to become complete. As is well known, Louisville numbers a great many accomplished musicians and musical amateurs among her population. There is perhaps no other American city of equal size where this art is so much cultivated and so high in favor with the whole people. Music publishing, the necessary consequence of this state of affairs, becomes therefore an important branch of business. ”

“ It is idle for western and southern buyers any longer to indulge the foolish opinion, that better, more durable, or more elegant carriages can be bought in the eastern markets, than can be had at home. Such an opinion was held until recently in regard to fine furniture, but that has disappeared under the earnest endeavor of Louisville manufacturers, and it is time for western purchasers to learn to depend on their own workmen for supplies of every sort. ”

“ The country is beginning already to possess much unemployed capital seeking for investment; while many, having already procured the means of living well, are seeking for homes more congenial to their tastes than the places where they have lived but for pecuniary profit. To both of these, the history of individual cities is an invaluable aid in helping the one to discover a means of advantageously employing his surplus money, and in aiding the other to find a home possessing those social advantages which will render him comfortable and happy. ”

“ Perhaps the worst feature of society is its lack of a proper reverence for the intellectual, its tendency to frivolity. The amusements most prized by all classes are of a frivolous character. The song, the play or the dance, are valued far above the lecture or the conversation. The pleasures of the intellect are considered dull and tame, when compared with those which excite but for a moment, and are then forgotten. That the power of the intellectual man is acknowledged is true, but the acknowledgment is not practical, it is merely theoretical. ”

“ It is somewhat remarkable that this population has depended and still depends so entirely upon commerce as a means of gain. No other city perhaps in the world has so large a commercial business in proportion to its population. This is probably accounted for in the fact that the increase of commerce has been so rapid and the difficulty of overdoing the business so apparently impossible that every temptation has been offered to the capitalist to prefer this mode of investment. ”